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United States Patent | 5,579,553 |
Holley | December 3, 1996 |
A railroad ballast broom vehicle uses a double or split auger to move ballast received from a rotary core broom. The auger has various features to minimize the risk of it jamming on ballast which it moves to the field side of rails of the railroad bed which is being swept. Flex plates are used to mount broom drive hydraulic motors to minimize or avoid problems which might otherwise be caused by slight misalignments in the motors and the rotary core of the broom. A dust control system is used to minimize escape of dust from operation of the vehicle. A method of using the vehicle advantageously uses only a single pass of the vehicle over a given section of road bed in need of sweeping.
Inventors: | Holley; John D. (Montgomery, AL) |
Assignee: | Holley Engineering Company, Inc. (Montgomery, AL) |
Appl. No.: | 503207 |
Filed: | July 17, 1995 |
Current U.S. Class: | 15/55; 15/83; 15/340.3; 104/279 |
Intern'l Class: | B61F 019/00 |
Field of Search: | 15/54,55,82,83,340.3 104/2,279 134/6,21 198/668-672,311,677 |
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